


Here To Stay

by ButWhosCounting



Category: The Code (TV 2019)
Genre: F/F, Fluff and Humor, Light Angst, Post-Canon
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2021-02-05
Updated: 2021-02-26
Packaged: 2021-03-17 15:13:45
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 10
Words: 15,876
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/29227524
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/ButWhosCounting/pseuds/ButWhosCounting
Summary: Maya Dobbins takes great pride in fact that she doesn’t get colds. In fact, it’s been over fifteen years since the last time she’s had one. Whenever her daughter brings home germs from school, the chain of contagion usually ends with her wife, Harper…so why wouldn’t this time be any different?
Relationships: Maya Dobbins & Harper Li
Comments: 2
Kudos: 3





	1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note:**

> Hello readers (if there are still fans of The Code out there...), I’m new here. After watching episode 1x8 when it first aired this fic was basically begging to be written, but it didn’t end up happening until I recently re-watched the show and got re-inspired. What I thought would be a simple one-shot turned out to be much longer and a bit angsty but hey. At least nobody dies. Hopefully I accurately portrayed the characters. More chapters to come. Enjoy.
> 
> 2/26/21: just found out Bard's last name is Worthington LOL. I just made up a last name for him...

DAY 7

“No Regrets”

Harper carefully placed a half-thawed ice pack on her wife’s forehead. “How is this—good? Too cold? Not cold enough?” She questioned tentatively, watching Maya’s features closely for any indications of discomfort. Maya opened her eyes and peered up at Harper blearily from under heavy eyelids, her blue eyes glassy and unfocused.

“It’s perfect, sweetheart,” she mumbled congestedly, her voice totally wrecked. “Thangk you.” Her eyes slowly closed again.

Harper grabbed the thermometer from the nightstand, placing the tip of it carefully into Maya’s ear and removing it once it beeped, holding it up and frowning at the number it displayed.

“Stop doig that,” Maya murmured a warning.

“Doing what?”

“Taking mby temperature every two mbidutes.”

Harper squirmed, putting the thermometer down and bit her lip awkwardly. “Okay. Sorry.” She eased herself down on the bed next to Maya’s form and reached a hand over to brush away the tiny beads of sweat on her hairline just above her temple.

“Stop it.”

Harper quirked an eyebrow. “Stop _what?_ ”

Maya heaved a long sigh, eyes still closed, seemingly attempting exasperation but coughing weakly instead, the sound of it making Harper’s stomach clench with anxiety. She recovered and swallowed painfully. “Worryig,” she choked out with a hoarse whisper. “I’ll be fide.”

Harper looked down at her hands and sighed, unable to help the smile that ghosted her lips. To her dismay, Maya’s uncanny ability to read her mind, even drugged-up and running a raging fever, remained stubbornly intact. She gently took her wife’s hand, cradling it in both of hers. “Okay,” she breathed, “I’ll try.”

Several moments passed before Maya quirked a smile, eyelids opening a just crack. “If you’re thinkig of sayig ‘I told you so’, could you baybe try ad bake it as quick and paidless as possible?”

Harper gave a quick laugh. “I’ll spare you for today…but only because you’re delirious and probably wouldn’t remember it anyway.” She brought Maya’s hand up to her lips and pressed a gentle kiss to her knuckles. “Besides...” she sighed heavily, worry etching themselves back into her features, “I take no satisfaction in seeing you this way.” Maya’s blue eyes disappeared again behind heavy eyelids. Harper stood up, pulling the comforter up to her wife’s neck before moving quietly to the other end of bed, climbing in, and curling up on her side so that she faced the other woman.

Harper tucked her hands prayer-style under her own cheek, gazing at Maya’s pale face with big sad eyes, her heart aching as she watched her breathe wheezily through parted lips. An exhale seemed to get snagged in her airways and she started coughing harshly and thickly, the ice pack sliding off her forehead as her body shook with each one. Harper bit down on her own tongue, reminding herself to breathe before reaching out to brush the back of her hand down her flushed cheek as she coughed.

“I’m so sorry I got you sick, my love,” Harper whispered with a pained expression once the coughing subsided, internally berating herself for the umpteenth time for being so careless with her germs while wanting to believe that her Maya was nothing less than invincible and untouchable. She returned the ice pack to its rightful place on her forehead.

“I forgive you,” her wife uttered weakly, nonchalantly. “Like you said…” she slurred slightly, “was boud to happend sooder or lader.” Her head lolled to one side, her features relaxing as her breathing evened out. Harper stayed quiet, watching as Maya started to fade. “Still…” she breathed, “I have ndo regrets…” she slowed, yawning, “…aboudt…” She fell silent then, leaving her statement incomplete.

“About what?” Harper whispered, but Maya didn’t answer. Several seconds passed and Harper was about to conclude that her wife had passed out mid-sentence, when Maya stirred again.

“Aboubt savig that little girl’s life,” she finished, before her head slumped over to the side and she started to snore softly. Harper watched her sleep, fidgeting as she attempted to convince herself that Maya wasn’t going to drop dead the very second she left her side, but those images of her wife in that hospital bed, in a coma, a ventilator down her throat, continued to hijack her consciousness. 

_It’s not looking good for her. I’d estimate she has between twelve to twenty-four hours left. Now would be the time to start notifying her loved ones._

Harper gasped deeply, trembling as her mind jerked itself back into the present. She stood up shakily, pressing a lingering, frantic kiss to her sleeping wife’s temple, before striding quickly out of the room, closing the door behind her and pressing both hands to her mouth, barely containing the sobs that had threatened to strangle her mere moments earlier.

**[REWINDING]**

DAY 1

“Slugs”

Harper stood outside Room 12 at Bethesda Country Day School, watching as eager, wriggling, giggling five and six-year-olds filed out and reunited with their over-caffeinated, mostly younger, but nonetheless dedicated and engaged parents. The trickle of students exiting their classrooms slowed, and the hallway grew quiet as younger students walking hand in hand with parents and cliques of older students exited through the glass doors into the cool crisp Autumn air. Harper frowned as she watched the classroom door expectantly, awaiting her daughter’s exit. She was usually one of the first kids out of the classroom, bouncing happily into her mother’s outstretched arms, having already prepared an enthralling thirty-minute monologue about her kindergarten adventures of that day.

Eden Jean Worthington-Li was—how do you put this delicately?— _dramatic_. And that was putting it lightly. Not unlike Harper herself, she was driven, passionate, and perhaps a bit of a perfectionist, but on top of that, she had a flair for the dramatic— _loved_ putting on a show at any given opportunity, felt and expressed every emotion she had with an intensity and was never shy about speaking her mind. Okay…so _maybe_ Harper was also a little outspoken, and—as much as she tried to hide this fact from people— _emotional_ , herself. What she could not take credit for however, was Eden’s love of music and singing, as Harper was basically tone deaf, or Maya’s wisdom and strength and softness, which Eden had simply inherited through example.

Their similarities didn’t stop at their personalities. Maya liked to joke that Eden was basically a clone of Harper. Besides inheriting Bard’s dimples and skin tone, Eden was the spitting image of her mother, looking exactly like Harper had as a little girl. They shared the same facial features, dark eyes and matching dark hair. She was also tiny for her age, as Harper had once been. Small but mighty, as they say. So, in a word, she was _freggin’ adorable_ (Okay. Technically that was two words, but it wasn’t possible to sum up her daughter’s cuteness with _just one_ for Christ sake’s).

As challenging as motherhood was, Eden remained the center of Harper’s universe, which was why she started to worry when all of Eden’s classmates had exited Room 12, but her daughter was nowhere to be seen. Harper started to stride toward the classroom door, when suddenly she saw her daughter’s tiny form materialize in the doorway.

Harper exhaled in relief. “Hey, sweet girl,” she greeted with a smile, which slowly started to wilt on her face when she realized that Eden was not her usual springy, effervescent self. “What’s the matter, E?” She asked softly as her daughter shuffled towards her. Her usual energetic movements were sluggish, her typically expressive face, unreadable. Harper squatted down so that she was eye level with her, placing her hands gently on either side of her arms and peering at her closely. “Everything okay?” She prodded gently. Eden shook her head slowly, shortly before she collapsed into tears.

Harper instinctively held out her arms and Eden slumped into them, sobbing and hiccupping. Harper’s heart sank. “Hey...hey...” she soothed. Eden wrapped her arms around her neck and buried her face into her shoulder, the sobs continuing as she felt her daughter’s tears start to pool into the dip of her collarbone. Harper gently stood up with her daughter in her arms and began walking toward the nearest exit, soothing and rubbing her back as she maneuvered out the door into the cool air. “Hey,” she soothed. “I’m here for you, sweet girl. It’s okay.” She pressed her lips to her daughter’s hair.

Her stomach tightened a bit when she realized she had not seen her daughter cry like this in a long time. Eden was more the type that stomped and shrieked when she was upset. Her curiosity about her daughter’s current state peaked as she strode across the school yard with her little girl in her arms. Slowing to a stop, she debated whether to stay outside or walk the five minutes to where her car was parked on a residential street corner. Her eyes landed on an empty picnic table under a tree and she started striding towards it, figuring that the two of them could talk it out over there, and that her own arms would thank her later for not attempting to walk several blocks uphill with an added twenty-something pounds.

Eden’s sobs and hiccups quieted, and she inhaled shakily. “They’re godda eat mby brain,” she heaved out with a stuffy nose, before giving in to another round of sobs.

Harper came to a halt, unsure of whether she had heard her daughter correctly. “What?” she asked, her eyebrows furrowing in confusion as her daughter hiccupped into her neck. _What the hell was she talking about?_ “Eden, sweetness…I’m not quite sure I understand what you’re trying to tell me.”

She felt Eden lift her head up slightly and take another wobbly breath in. “Hunter told mbe— _hiccup_ —that I had slugs in mby ndose— _hiccup_ —and that they’re having babies in there ad mbaking more slugs and spreading and they’re going eat mby brain and I don’t wandt them to eat mby brain,” she rushed out heavily, her voice breaking into another sob.

Harper’s features rearranged themselves into utter disbelief. Eden may have been imaginative, but gullible she was not. She’d always vehemently refused to believe in Santa Claus, even when her mothers put half-eaten cookies and half-drunk milk out in the living room every Christmas Eve after she went to sleep. Why on God’s green Earth would she believe that slugs were going to eat her brain? Harper tried to pull back to look at her daughter’s face, but Eden stubbornly kept her arms around her neck. She started walking again, picking up the pace so that she could set her daughter down and get to the bottom of this mystery.

“Adn I tried to tell himb to stop telling mbe that but he wouldn’t stop—he just kept telling mbe over and over again,” she sobbed. Harper felt her daughter’s body unclench slightly, as if the act of verbalizing her troubles was enough to take the edge off her fear, her hiccups slowing as Harper lowered her onto the picnic table bench before standing back up and peering down at her. Her eyes widened in recognition once she saw Eden’s face, as the puzzle pieces of the mystery finally came together in her brain.

“Aww,” she cooed, biting back an amused grin and reaching down to lift her daughter’s chin to inspect her face. Sure enough, green goo was leaking out of both nostrils, her nose red from crying. Her daughter sniffled and squirmed impatiently, tiny legs swinging out from under her, looking expectantly back up at her mother and waiting for her to elaborate on what she was thinking. “You’re sick,” she explained, eyeing her daughter with a mixture of sympathy and amusement. Eden sniffled thickly again as Harper sat down, straddling the bench so that she faced her daughter.

“I amb?” Eden questioned incredulously, quirking an eyebrow (another trait she inherited from Harper). “Mmm-hmm,” Harper answered, setting her purse down on the bench and digging through it until she found a packet of tissues. Rule #1 of parenthood: Always come prepared. “You’ve got a cold, my sweet,” she clarified, opening the packet and pulling out a tissue. “That green stuff is _mucus_ , not slugs. Hunter is full of shi—,” she broke off, wincing, thankful she had caught herself, “Uh,” she continued clumsily, “he was just teasing you.”

Understanding bloomed on the little girl’s face. “Oh,” she uttered in surprise. Harper grabbed her chin and brought the tissue to her face, mopping up the mess under her nose. Eden heaved a sigh of relief. “Thangk _god_ ,” she exclaimed emphatically as Harper continued to clean her up, all the built-up tension leaving her body at once. “I thought I was godda _die_ ,” she lamented dramatically, her voice partially muffled by the tissue. “I was _so scared_.”

“But you were so brave for standing up to Hunter, even if he didn’t listen,” Harper responded, flashing her an endearing smile before adding, “my little superwoman.” Eden beamed at the compliment. Harper plucked another tissue from the pack, folded it, and held it to Eden’s nose. “Blow, sweetness,” she instructed. Eden complied and Harper tried not to cringe outwardly. Of all the things she hated in life, snot was probably near the top of her list, coming up just third to terrorism and misogyny. She gingerly crumbled up the used tissues and stuffed them in her pocket.

“I don’dt feel so good,” Eden mumbled wearily, her body deflating.

Harper took note of her daughter’s haggard features. “I know, E,” she responded empathetically, feeling her daughter’s forehead. Not burning up, but somewhere in the lower range of feverish. “But mommy and I are going to take good care of you and get you feeling better. Sound good?” She smoothed a hand over her daughter’s hair. Eden nodded lethargically, scooting into her mother and laying a weary head on her shoulder. Harper adjusted her purse and lifted her daughter up into her arms, making a mental note to stop by the drug store on their way home. It was going to be a long next few days.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I thought it’d be fun to write Maya and Harper as a couple because I get interesting vibes from their relationship and I can’t quite put my finger on what it is. Seems like they respect each other as colleagues but aren’t close and deliberately keep each other at arms-length, only hanging out when they’re oversees and tired of all the testosterone around them. I also get serious girl-loving vibes from both of them. First off- the way Harper reacts to learning that Maya isn’t married and that Judge Jette is “girl crazy”--and both of them seemed wayyy too comfortable flirting with Jette AND that look they give each other when they shake hands in 1x8- like they have a secret between them?? I mean COME ON. Also, Harper’s feelings for Bard never seemed genuine to me (or maybe the actors have no chemistry IRL?).
> 
> For some reason Maya just strikes me as the type of person who likes who she likes and doesn’t care for labels (I get vibes from her and Abe as well, like they had a short fling at one point), and if I’m not mistaken the show never reveals the gender of the person she had been married to so who knows. Wood and Soo are also really good friends in real life so I think their characters would’ve made a great pair considering they’d have great on-screen chemistry. A tiny part of me wonders if they were setting them up for that for Season 2. Guess we’ll never know.
> 
> Anyway, thanks for reading. I have most of the chapters written so hopefully the updates will be quick.


	2. Chapter 2

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Here is Chapter 2. Thanks for reading!

Day 1

“An ‘Uh-Oh’ Moment”

Harper stifled some giggles into her wrist. “It was so funny and yet I felt really bad for her because she was so terrified, you know?” She recalled in a hushed voice. She smiled widely, wrinkling her nose a little in disgust. “I mean, she _literally_ thought that a slug had slithered its way into her nose and was making little babies in there and that they were going to eat her brain. What a truly terrifying experience for a five-year-old. Anyway,” she continued, smiling affectionately down at her daughter’s sleeping face, “after I educated her about where mucus comes from and why it’s the same color as slugs, _now_ she thinks the whole thing is hilarious and keeps referring to her snot as ‘slugs’. I think I’ve created a monster.”

Maya muffled a laugh into her sleeve. “Wow,” she murmured, her face a mixture of surprise and shared amusement. “She bounced back quickly, huh?” She was perched on the other side of their bed, still sporting her business-casual work attire, their daughter conked out between them. “When I was five, I was afraid of my own shadow…” She chuckled, “so given the circumstances it’s a wonder our five-year-old even managed to avoid having a total mental breakdown in class.”

“She really held it together for a long time,” Harper agreed. “Although I think it helped that she was feeling under the weather, so she was not her usual intense, high-strung self.”

“Someone ought to call that boy’s parents. If you won’t, I will.”

“Oh, I did, believe me,” Harper emphasized. “I found his mother’s cell number on the roster. She apologized profusely and explained that Hunter had some creepy— _‘fascination’_ —” she said in air quotes, “with slimy things that move,” she shuddered, grinning. “But I decided to go easy on her since she’s a young mother and all.”

“Well, that’s nice that she apologized but she’s dreaming if she thinks her son is getting an invite to our daughter’s sixth birthday party.”

Harper eyed her with disbelief. “Which is a total of _five_ months from now, Maya. You’re seriously planning to hold a grudge for that lo—” Her voice stalled suddenly as her smile faded and her eyes unfocused.

Maya raised her eyebrows, peering at her with a confused frown. “You alright?” She waved a hand in front of her wife’s face. “Hello? Earth to Harper.”

“Yeah…hold on a sec,” Harper breathed. Her lips parted and her eyelids became heavy as she quickly pushed herself up into a sitting position, her hand hovering over the lower half of her face. A split second later, her eyes squeezed shut as her mouth widened, head dipping slightly as she sneezed lightly into her cupped hand.

“Bless you. Tissue?”

“No, I’m good,” Harper breathed out, sniffing and waving her hand in dismissal. “Anyway, what was I saying?”

“Something about my aptitude for holding grudges, as I recall.”

“Right. You—” A swift sneeze cut her off, this one giving her no warning, so she sneezed openly into the air, thankfully managing to avoid spraying Maya and their sleeping daughter with droplets of saliva.

“Uh-oh,” Maya smirked. “You too, huh?”

“Hmm?” Harper hummed distractedly, rubbing her nose.

“Sounds like someone’s coming down with a case of _‘the slugs’_ ,” Maya taunted in a sing-song voice.

Harper narrowed her eyes at her wife. “That’s not funny.”

Maya shook her head at her. “Told you not to share that smoothie with Eden the other day since it’s cold season and all but did you listen? Of course not,” she sighed. “Didn’t listen to me last year either…” she muttered under her breath.

“Hey, you _know_ those raspberry peanut butter smoothies are my kryptonite. Besides,” she shrugged, “a couple sneezes don’t mean a thing. It could be allergies for all we know.”

Maya stifled a laugh. “You don’t have allergies. That’s my territory, remember?”

“Yeah…well…” Harper trailed off defensively, unable to think of a comeback.

“I’ll tell you what,” Maya proposed. “The jury is still out for now. But if you sneeze one more time, I’m calling your bluff.”

“Deal.” No sooner had Harper agreed to Maya’s terms that the same ‘pre-sneeze’ look bloomed on her face. “Oh no,” she breathed, inhaling sharply immediately before this sneeze overtook her, slightly more forceful than the last two as it caused her body to curl in on itself upon its release.

“Aaaand there you have it,” Maya concluded. She stood up to grab a tissue from the box on their dresser.

“Noooo,” Harper groaned, accepting the tissue from Maya. “I can’t be getting sick right now. It’s midterms week and I expanded my office hours for tomorrow and Wednesday—” she blew her nose lightly, “—and Eden is already sick on top of that and just…ugh!” She ended with an angry sigh.

“Hey,” Maya murmured comfortingly. She sat down next to her wife, taking her hand. “Don’t worry. I can help hold down the fort. My schedule is lighter this week and I can work from home.”

Harper’s expression remained troubled. “You sure?” She asked hesitantly.

“Well…maybe not tomorrow because I have that meeting with my client and the plaintiff and his attorney…” she sighed, “and trying to negotiate a settlement over a video conference call is like trying to tie your shoes without laces while blindfolded,” she muttered in a stream of consciousness. She paused to take a breath, looking back up at Harper with a half-smile, “But I’ll try to make it home at a reasonable hour.”

She smoothed a hand down Harper’s back. “It’s going to be okay.”

“Okay,” Harper murmured, her body relaxing. “Thank you.”

“No problem.”

The two of them exchanged a smile before turning to gaze fondly at their snuffling, sleeping daughter.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> It's pretty clear that neither Harper nor Maya are Judge Advocates at this point. I have a whole backstory about how this happened, but the upcoming chapters should give clues about what happened, and I will fill in bits and pieces in my notes as well if it seems appropriate, but I'm that annoying writer that prefers to keep the readers guessing so....sorry.


	3. Chapter 3

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Thanks for reading!!

DAY 2

“Heels or No Heels”

“Hey you,” Maya greeted as she emerged from the garage, briefcase in hand, high heeled pumps clicking on the tiled floor of their kitchen.

“Hey,” Harper called over her shoulder from where she stood over the sink, scrubbing a plate with a sponge.

Maya kicked off her pumps, putting her keys and briefcase on the far side of the kitchen island before striding over behind where Harper stood placing two plates on a dish-drying rack. She encircled her arms around Harper’s waist and drew her body into hers, placing a kiss on her shoulder, her lipstick leaving a mark on her blouse. _Whoops._ Harper patted her hands dry with a kitchen towel before turning around to face Maya. Harper gave her a soft, tired smile before resting her hands on either side of Maya’s upper arms and pressing a lingering kiss to her lips. Maya kept her arms looped around Harper’s waste.

They both pulled away simultaneously just as a Harper’s eyes glazed over. She leaned away quickly, turning her head to the side to sneeze into the crook of her elbow with a harsh jerk of her upper body.

“Bless you,” Maya responded, releasing Harper from her grasp as her wife sniffled a few times, failing to stop a clear trickle of liquid from leaking out of her nose. “Well, I _was_ going to ask how you were feeling...but I think you just answered my question...” Maya trailed off.

Harper sighed, covering her nose with her hand and sniffling with more fervor as her eyes darted around the kitchen. “Where did I leave those tissues…” she muttered under her breath, a husky roughness just tugging at the edges of her voice, her eyebrows knitting together in frustration.

“Here, I got you,” Maya said, gently guiding Harper’s hand away from her face and dragging the pad of her thumb sideways over the liquid slowly seeping out of her right nostril, wiping it on her pants, and proceeding to clean up the remaining dampness with one more brush of her thumb over the space between her wife’s nose and upper lip. “There,” she concluded nonchalantly. “Better?”

Harper stared at her with a mixture of disbelief and amusement. “Well if that ain’t love then I dunno what is.” Her dark eyes lowered, shuddering as they located the spot of glistening liquid on the fabric over Maya’s thigh. “I just hope you weren’t too fond of those pants… You may want to consider burning those…seeing as they are now a biohazard.”

“Don’t worry about it,” Maya responded with a wave of dismissal and a grin, turning to wash her hands in the kitchen sink. “I suppose I should be thanking you. I hate the damn things. Such an unflattering shade of beige. I will happily run over them with our lawnmower.”

“Happy to help. So, I hope you’re good with having pizza from Pagliacci’s for dinner tonight,” she heard Harper say, the roughness in her voice more noticeable as she strained to be heard over the sound of the running water. “Wasn’t feeling up to cooking anything.”

Maya dried her hands and whirled around, her features arranging themselves into mock-outrage. “You mean you’re going to make me _eat_ that mouthwatering, warm chewy bread topped with gooey cheese and greasy pepperoni? That’s it,” she threw up her hands dramatically. “We’re done. I can’t go on living this way.”

Harper did her classic eye-roll, unable to keep the edges of her lips from tugging upward. “Alright,” she shrugged with resignation. “Dibs on the house.”

Maya flashed her a grin before lifting the cardboard lid, grabbing a slice of pizza out of the box and taking a bite, her eyes involuntarily sliding shut. “Mmmmm,” she moaned in ecstasy, chewing slowly. “Just kidding. I love you so much right now. I’m never leaving you,” she mumbled with a mouth full of pizza.

“I just love how easy it is to please you,” Harper returned with a smile, eyebrows raising. “ _And_ that you appear to be so comfortable with the bodily fluids of others. I could really use your abilities, considering what we’re dealing with.”

“Mmm,” Maya nodded, swallowing a bite of pizza. “Assuming you’re referring to our grumpy _slug-_ infested five-year-old,” she smiled fondly.

“Precisely. But I wouldn’t recommend repeating those words in her presence, though,” she warned. “It’s still a bit of a sensitive subject for her. She regressed a bit after she had a nightmare about the slimy creatures last night.”

Maya chuckled. “Fair enough.” She took another bite of pizza, her expression growing solemn. “How is she?” she asked between chews, frowning slightly at the thought of their little girl in sick misery.

Harper exhaled through pursed lips. “Not great. It’s 0 to 1 so far, slugs are leading. She’s got a 100.9 temperature and she’s been pretty lethargic—poor thing. Nona told me she’s been feverish and run-down all day, but thankfully managed to get her to nap for a few hours. And I managed to get her to eat half a slice of pizza, so that’s something to celebrate I guess.”

“Absolutely,” Maya agreed. “Gotta take the small wins wherever you can get ‘em. Is she in the den?”

Harper nodded. “Watching Moana.”

“Ah. Thought I heard the sweet sound of Polynesian villagers singing together in unison.”

Both women glanced in the direction of the faint sound of their daughter’s bad phlegmy coughing and frowned simultaneously. “Oh,” Harper said with a sigh, running a hand over her face, “Guess I failed to mention that part.”

“Poor kid,” Maya murmured. Her thoughts were interrupted when Harper suddenly brought the crook of her elbow to her face and let it hover over her nose as her eyes dulled and her lips parted.

“Not again,” she groaned, as her breath started to hitch haltingly inward. Maya quickly retrieved a paper towel, folded it, and cupped it loosely over the lower half of Harper’s face a split second before she inhaled sharply and her upper body snapped forward with a hoarse sneeze into the cupped towel. “Ugh, thank you,” she mumbled from behind the towel as she took it from Maya’s hand and kept it pressed up against her nose, blowing.

“It’s not as soft as a tissue, but I figured you’d prefer that to your shirt,” Maya replied, rubbing Harper’s back as she dabbed at her nose with the towel and cleared her throat. Her upper body wrenched forward again as she caught another sneeze in the towel. “Sheesh,” Maya continued. “If this is how you sound on day one of this bug, and if Eden’s symptoms are any indication, I think it’s safe to say you’ve got a rough couple of days ahead of you, sweetheart. A bad case of ‘the slugs’ if you will.”

Harper grimaced. “I’d rather—” she began, her voice hoarse, breaking, and sounding like she had mucus lodged in between her vocal cords. She stopped speaking abruptly to clear her throat before trying again. “I’d rather ndot think about that,” she finished, her voice sounding only slightly less rough. She let out a ragged sigh of frustration and lowered her eyes to the floor, sniffling dejectedly. Maya gently pushed locks of Harper’s hair back behind her ear, watching as her wife looked up again, eyes widening slightly as if a sudden thought had entered her brain.

“Oh, that’s _right_ ,” she uttered with a sigh. “I was going to bring Eden something hot to drink—she said her throat was really bugging her—but I got totally sidetracked by our conversation.” She began hurriedly making her way towards the fridge when Maya placed a hand on her shoulder.

“Whoa, hold on a second,” she commanded softly. “First of all, I apologize for walking in at the most inopportune time and throwing you off your mothering-game.” She motioned to her shoes on the floor. “I can be incredibly distracting in those heels,” she joked, before her features softened again. “Second, _you_ also sound like your throat is really bugging you and that you’d benefit from something hot to drink. I’ll take care of Eden. You go sit down. Or lie down. Or whatever it was you were planning on doing after bringing Eden something. Capiche?” She ran her hands up and down either side of Harper’s arms and fixed her with a tender gaze.

Harper nodded, suddenly looking exhausted, as if she had been waiting for permission to appear anything less than completely composed. “Well, a hot shower and some tea sounds really ndice right about now…” she answered hesitantly.

“Excellent,” Maya exclaimed, lightly kissing Harper on her forehead before turning her around and gently pushing her towards the stairs. “You go shower and I’ll bring you a cup of tea.”

Harper made her way towards the stairs sluggishly, before turning around and looking Maya up and down. “You’re _always_ incredibly distracting, by the way. Heels or no heels.” She smiled sweetly before turning back around and heading upstairs.


	4. Chapter 4

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Thank you for reading!!

“Earl Grey”

Maya entered the den, hot chocolate in hand, and melted at the sight before her. A rare sight indeed, since on a typical day, Eden had the energy of a thousand caffeinated golden retriever puppies. The tiny girl was curled up horizontally on the couch, a pillow under her head and a comforter ten times her size tucked around her, clutching a stuffed panda bear to her chest and eyeing the TV groggily, her mouth slightly ajar. It was obvious that she was feeling terrible if she could sit through a musical for more than two seconds without bursting into song and dance. “Hey munchkin,” she greeted her daughter tenderly, easing herself down in front of Eden’s curled form and folding her legs under her.

Her daughter shifted her eyes away from the TV sluggishly and blinked up at her, as Moana sang in the background about feeling called to explore the vast sea surrounding her small island. “Hey mbobby,” she croaked weakly.

Maya smoothed a hand up and down her daughter’s back. “Hey,” she continued gently, her voice but a decibel above a whisper. “I brought you something for your throat,” she held the mug up and grinned. “Hot chocolate. You’re favorite.”

Eden fixed a fevered gaze on the mug, seemingly in hesitation as the light from the TV reflected off her glassy brown eyes. “I dod’t wandt it ady more,” she decided after a few seconds, yawning.

“That’s okay, I’ll just leave it on the coffee table just in case you decide to drink it, okay?” Her daughter nodded and redirected her bleary gaze back to the TV screen, letting loose some rattling coughs. Maya frowned and silently smoothed a hand over her forehead and hair as she coughed.

“I don’t like being sick,” Eden whimpered once the coughing subsided, glancing back up at her mother with a pained expression, looking like she might start to cry. “I tried to sing along with the mbovie but it hurts mby voice and bakes be cough.”

“I know, hun,” Maya soothed, rubbing the back of her index finger over her daughter’s cheek a few times. “It’s no fun being sick. But you’re gonna get better, I promise. You’ll be singing again, soon enough.”

“Cand we cuddle and watch the mbovie together?” She snuffled thickly.

Maya ducked her head so that she was eye level with her daughter, smiling fondly at her. “I would love _nothing_ more than to cuddle and watch the movie with you, munchkin. But first, I need to make your mom some tea. She’s not feeling so good either.”

Eden peered up at her mother curiously. “Did mbobby catch the slugs?” She asked, her expression and tone serious.

Maya bit back an amused smile. “Yes, mommy caught the slugs, but she’ll be okay."

“Is it mby fault? Is she bad at be?”

“No, no, it’s not your fault,” she assuaged gently. “And she’s _definitely_ not mad at you. Sometimes these things just happen. It’s okay.”

“Okay,” Eden blinked, letting the subject drop. Maya stroked her cheek and pressed a kiss to her temple.

“Now, hang tight. I’ll only be five minutes.” The tiny girl nodded with a sniffle.

Once back in the kitchen, Maya munched on another piece of pizza as she prepared the tea. Earl grey—Harper’s favorite, but making sure to use the decaf version since she wanted to ensure that her wife got a decent night’s rest. A few minutes later she made her way upstairs, mug in one hand and half-eaten pizza slice in the other. She pushed open the door to their shared master bedroom with her hip and slid in, just as Harper was walking out of their steamy bathroom, a towel wrapped around her and a tissue pressed to her nose. Maya sat on the edge of the bed and popped the last remaining piece of pizza into her mouth and sighed happily, licking her thumb and forefinger with satisfaction. “I’ve said it once and I’ll say it again. Sweetheart, you’ve really got a knack for ordering pizza.”

Harper blew wetly into her tissue, folded it over, and blew into it again, concluding with a few throaty coughs. “Why, thank you,” she husked. “I take my craft very seriously. And, actually, you’ve said it _multiple_ times, ndot just once. But it ndever gets old.” She offered a small smile, but for the most part appeared totally spent. “How’s our girl? Was she sleepig?” She questioned, her nose sounding more stopped-up than it had downstairs.

Maya patted the spot on the bed next to her. “Not quite, but she was looking like she could pass out at any given moment.” Harper sat down next to her and Maya offered her the steaming mug in her hand, bowing slightly. “Your tea, madam.”

“You’re too good to mbe,” Harper breathed out before closing her eyes and heaving a sneeze into the crumbled tissue in her hand, recovering quickly to accept the mug in both hands and sniffling.

“Bless you. Well, I figured it was the perfect time to put my stellar immune system to good use and dote on my ailing wife and child.”

Harper quirked an eyebrow. “Somehow I get the feeling that, due to the fairly recent events that transpired in Libya and based on what a certified _mbedical doctor_ told us, you ought to start replacing the word ‘stellar’ with the word ‘weakened’.”

Maya scoffed. “Well, I must say I am _deeply_ insulted. It’s been six whole months and I haven’t so much as sniffled. Mark my words, because soon you’ll be eating yours once I manage to escape yet another household outbreak of the sniffles completely unscathed.”

“We’ll see about that, Dobbins,” Harper answered wearily before bringing her mug up to her lips, her damp hair spilling over her shoulder. Maya watched her take a tentative sip, brushing her wife’s long dark hair back over her shoulder as Harper carefully swallowed the liquid. Encouraged, she took a longer swig and swallowed, eyes closing and body seemingly melting in relief as the tea appeared to soothe her aching throat. She sniffled as her nose began to run, prompting Maya to stand up and snatch a fresh tissue from the box on their nightstand, handing it to her. Harper scooted closer to her wife as she blew and wiped her nose, laying her head on her shoulder. “The tea is just what I ndeeded. Thank you, love,” she breathed, another cough escaping her. Maya put her arms around Harper, pulling her closer and tucking the brunette’s head under her chin. They both sat in silence for several moments, simply enjoying their physical proximity to one another. Maya buried her nose in Harper’s damp hair, inhaling the scent of her hibiscus shampoo and placing a kiss there.

“I’bm not proud to admit this,” she heard Harper pipe up hesitantly, “but…I’m sort of enjoying this new, subdued versiond of our daughter. I mbeand,” she paused, “I love her more than life itself and I absolutely hate that she’s so sick. I guess all I’m saying is that…it’s ndice to have a temporary break from the constant…flow of frenetic energy. Does that make me a bad parent?”

Maya laid a supportive hand over Harper’s. “No, I don’t think that makes you a bad parent. And I’ll admit…” she paused, a sheepish smile forming on her lips, “I’m enjoying it too. Just _a little_.” Her wife let out a husky chuckle and took another sip of her tea. “Does this fact make us imperfect parents? Sure. Does it make us human? Of course. But, bad? Hell no,” she concluded emphatically. Harper took Maya’s hand and gave it a squeeze. “In fact,” Maya continued, “I’m just about to head back downstairs to cuddle our girl at her request. Wanna bundle up with a quilt and your tea and join us? And, you know, enjoy the calm while it lasts?”

Harper tilted her head up to give Maya a small smile. “That sounds perfect.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Future chapters will start to fill in the holes a little more about this vague "thing" that happened that Maya and Harper keep passively alluding to.


	5. Chapter 5

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Attention: Grumpy/pouty/overdramatic Harper alert (cause she is totally the type of person who gets like that when she's under the weather)! Also, meet Maya-the-caretaker (who thinks Harper's crankiness is amusing)!! Put those two things together and you've got fluffy adorable-ness out the wazoo. This chapter was way too much fun to write.

Day 3

“Like A Unicorn”

“Which ndumber should I pick ndext?” Eden bounced eagerly, balancing on her knees in her chair and leaning over the color-by-number drawing before her.

“Hmm,” Maya looked up from her laptop distractedly, putting her chin in her hand and eyeing Eden’s work from beneath raised eyebrows, impressed at her steady hand. “How about six. That’s a nice even number. Also, sit on your bottom please,” she added, patting the edge of the seat of the chair.

Eden hurriedly grabbed the edge of the table as she adjusted her position, parking her bottom on the edge of the chair and leaning her body into the table’s edge and propping her head up with her little hands as she studied her homework with an intensity that seemed out of proportion to the task at hand, but did not surprise Maya at all. “That’s ndice, but I think I’bm godda go with eleved,” she concluded in all seriousness. She picked up her orange crayon and started neatly outlining the edges of a duck’s beak with it.

Maya took a sip of her coffee with an amused quirk of her lips. “Why ask for my opinion if you were just going to choose the next number yourself?”

Eden’s little eyebrows were furrowed in concentration as she colored. “You chose the wrong nbumber,” she stated matter-of-factly with a sniffle, as if it were the most obvious thing in the world.

“Right. Of course.” Maya’s expression shifted to amused bewilderment as she rubbed a hand over the back of her fatigued neck. Gotta love five-year-old logic.

Eden looked up briefly and her eyes narrowed to slits, before her head snapped back down with a sneeze and the contents of her mouth and nose sprayed all over her homework. “Whoops,” she tittered as Maya reached across the table to pluck a tissue from the box perched there. “Look mbob,” she giggled, pointing to the blob of green slime on the top right corner of her picture. “A slug!” She giggled again, seemingly pleased with herself.

“Ahh! Yuck!” Maya grimaced, chuckling. “Hold on—uhh…” she paused as she brought the tissue to the paper, carefully wiping up the gooey mess. “Crisis averted. But let’s _not_ share what just happened with Mrs. Francis, yeah? I think the poor old woman has seen enough snot—er— _slugs_ , for one lifetime.”

“That’s probably a good idea,” Eden agreed, sniffling thickly and grinning. “She already tells mbe I’b a handful, you kndow.”

Maya smiled and folded the tissue over her daughter’s nose. “Sounds accurate,” she teased as Eden gave a hearty blow, fully used to the routine by then. Just then, the back door opened and Harper trudged in from the garage, her faux-leather messenger bag slung over her shoulder and her arms full of various things from her day, including a coffee cup, a tissue box, her cell phone, and keys.

“Momby!” Eden called out, sliding off her chair and running over to her mother.

“Hey, sweetndess!” Harper called back weakly but enthusiastically as she unloaded her things onto the kitchen counter. Her posture was deflated but her broad smile genuine as she scooped her daughter up and hugged her tightly before pressing her lips to her temple. Maya’s heart melted as she watched the exchange.

“How are you feelig?” Harper asked in a low and faded voice, pulling back to look at the small girl. “You’re lookig mbuch better.”

“How are _you_ feeling?” Eden deflected. “Your voice sounds like a dying goose.” Harper chortled wearily, setting her daughter down and smoothing a hand over her hair.

“How kind of you to ndotice. Ndot great, but I’ll be alright,” she sighed, closing her eyes and lowering her head into her hand to massage her sinuses. Eden skipped back over to her chair and returned to her homework with steadfast concentration.

“She’s doing better,” Maya spoke up. “Just a small fever and, you know…residual slugs and coughing.” She approached her wife and planted a kiss on the flushed apple of her cheek. “The kid’s got a point though, you know. You do sound quite dreadful.”

“Ad _hello_ to you too,” Harper replied sarcastically, with a voice that was several pitches lower, congested and fading in and out. She managed a flicker of a smile before it got swept away in a wave of fatigue.

Maya peered at her wife sympathetically, reaching over to begin working her fingers and thumbs through the knots in her slumped shoulders. Harper began to sag with exhaustion. “Should I even bother asking how your day was?” Maya inquired cautiously.

“Ndo… I’d rather ndot give you the satisfactiod of sayig ‘I told you so’.

“Ahh-ha. So it _was_ a bad idea to lecture a classroom of sixty college students for ninety minutes straight with a bad cold.”

Harper folded her arms defensively and moved out of Maya’s reach, punctuating this motion with a stuck-up sniff, but with her nasal passages being so congested it came out sounding more like a pitiful sniffle. “I refuse to combmendt ond that.” She jutted her chin and tilted her head slightly as she fixed Maya with a pointed glare, daring her to push the issue. Maya simply stared back, stifling a laugh. “Shut up,” Harper warned, unable to stop her lips from perking up slightly.

Maya snorted with laughter. The intimidation effect that her wife was going for, which had normally worked out brilliantly in the courtroom during her days as an attorney, wasn’t faring so well now next to her broken voice and pink-rimmed stuffy nose. Instead, it was quite an endearing sight.

“Okay, okay, _fide_.” Harper resigned, throwing up her hands, exasperated. “Idt was a _terrible_ idea, okay? Half of the timbe mby studendts couldn’dt evend hear mbe or understad what I was sayig. The rembaidig half, _I_ couldnd’t hear what they were sayig because by ears are so clogged.” She paused to sniffle thickly, “To bake matters worse, halfway through mby day I rad out of tissues and I had back-to-back office-hour appoidtbedts with studedts so I didnd’t have timbe to rund to the store to get bore, so I used the scratchy paper towels fromb the restroob instead and…” she pointed to her chapped nose with a sigh, “ _this_ happened.”

“ _Ouch_ ,” Maya winced, lifting her wife’s chin with a thumb and forefinger to inspect the damage. “That looks painful. I’m so sorry,” she consoled. “Sounds like a really awful day.”

“Okay, say your lide ndow. I dow you’ve beend waitig. The floor is all yours,” Harper uttered defeatedly.

“I’ll take a raincheck on that. I’m feeling merciful today.” She returned her hands to Harper’s shoulders and worked the muscles again. A few seconds later, she moved her lips a couple inches away from her wife’s ear and spoke in a hushed tone. “I gotta admit though…this new voice of yours is drop-dead sexy. I’d bet money you had at least half the kids in that class horny as hell by the end, _Professor Li_.” She winked. “It also doesn’t hurt that the owner of said voice happens to be insanely hot.”

“Yeah, sure,” Harper whispered back, “bore like ‘hot mbess’.” She heaved a sigh that got caught in her throat and triggered some rattling coughs. She clutched her throat in pain with a groan and a pout. “Adnd I’bm preddy sure the soud of mby disgustig phlegm-filled hackig cooled themb right back dowd adyway.” Maya couldn’t help but chuckle at her comment.

“Mommies?” A little voice called out to them from the dining area. “What does _horny_ meand?”

Maya cringed, flashing Harper a pleading look. “What do I tell her?” She mouthed. Harper simply smirked and shrugged, claiming the innocent bystander role in this awkward exchange and thumbing her nose at her wife. “Yeah, real mature,” Maya scowled at her before turning around slowly to face her daughter. “Um…” she paused awkwardly, smiling at Eden. “Horny…” she began, “…you know, like…” she trailed off, clearing her throat to buy more time. Eden raised her eyebrows, silently beckoning her to get on with it. “ _Likaunicorn,”_ she blurted out rapidly, the words rushing together. She heard Harper collapse into fit of a muted laughter and coughing from behind her.

“Ohhhhhh,” Eden marveled, her eyes growing big with wonder as she made the connection. “Because udicorns have hornds. So they’re _horny_. I get it.”

Maya put a hand to her head. “Shit,” she mumbled. “No…actually, munchkin,” she addressed her daughter calmly, “that’s not what it means. It means uh… You know what? Forget it. I’ll tell you when you turn sixteen.”

Eden looked at her for a moment before rolling her eyes dismissively in a manner not unlike a sixteen-year-old. “You’re _so_ weird.” She went back to coloring. Maya grimaced and gave her wife a sheepish sideways glance. Harper was grinning from ear to ear, catching her breath and leaning against the counter.

“Ndicely handled, Mbaya.”

“Hey, don’t judge. You just left me to fend for myself,” Maya shot back in a whisper.

Harper shrugged. “Her body mbay be five-years-old but her mbind is defidendly sixteed,” she murmured, wiping the tears from her eyes.

“Yeah, well—she gets that from you, eh?” Maya retorted.

“Oh by god. I edjoyed every secod of that exchange,” she squealed, ignoring Maya’s jab. She started to laugh again but coughed into a cupped hand instead, her smile fading rapidly, all but disappearing by the end of the short fit.

Maya winced. “Don’t die on me. At least not until we take Eden to Disney World like we promised.”

“I’ll do mby best…but ndo guareedtees,” Harper answered breathlessly, closing her eyes and sniffling thickly. She exhaled carefully through pursed lips but her breath got caught in her throat again. “Od secod thought—” she managed to choke out before coughing harshly. “ _Ow_ ,” she squeaked painfully, a hand at her throat once again, “baybe start pladdig mby fuderal ndow just id case I dond’t pull through this…” she whispered hoarsely.

“Poor momby,” her daughter cooed from where she sat at the table.

“Poor mommy indeed,” Maya echoed as her blue eyes softened in concern. A powerful chill suddenly rattled Harper’s frame, causing her teeth to chatter and her features to pinch in misery. Maya made a soft, sympathetic noise as she brushed the back of her hand against her wife’s flushed cheek before resting her palm on her forehead. Harper’s eyes slid shut as she leaned into Maya’s touch.

“Uhh,” she moaned with pleasure, breathing out of slightly parted lips. “Your hadn is ndice and cool. Feels…s’good…”

“My hand isn’t cool, Harper, your head is just unnaturally warm. Too warm for my liking,” Maya sighed, removing her hand. “I’ll bring you some medicine…” She paused, her eyes going to her wife’s chapped nose, “…and some ointment. Can I get you anything else? Tea? Broth? Juice?”

Harper inhaled sharply, her head tilting up lazily as her glassy eyes closed and the ceiling lights illuminated the dark circles under her eyes, before her head snapped downward with a forceful sneeze into the sleeve of her coat. She sniffled thickly into her sleeve. “Broth please.”

“Coming right up.”

Harper blew her nose as she removed her coat and shoes before wrapping herself in a blanket and sitting down at the dining table next to her daughter and putting her head in her hands. Eden stroked her mother’s hair. A few minutes later, Maya placed a mug of broth, buttered toast, two white pills and Vaseline in front of her wife and sat down beside her.

“Now, I know you said earlier today that you weren’t hungry for dinner but humor me and try to get something in your stomach. You know what they say, ‘food is medicine’.” Harper eyed the toast with dazed, suspicious eyes before picking it up and taking a small bite from the corner, chewing awkwardly since she was unable to pass air through her nose.

“I thought _mbedicind_ was mbedicind.” Eden chimed in, coughing a few times and picking up a red crayon from her box. “Otherwise…what’s the point of having mdedicine because we could just be eating food to feel better.”

“She brigs up a good poindt,” Harper choked out, forcefully swallowing the bite of toast with a discernible wince and washing it down with broth.

“Well, you got me there I guess,” Maya conceded. She turned to Harper again, frowning as she watched her wife painfully swallow another piece of toast. “Maybe toast wasn’t the best idea…” she noted.

Harper choked down the pills with a swig of broth. “It’s fide. Doesnd’t batter what I eat. It’s all the sabe…tasteless ad razorblade-shaped.”

“Well, I bet ice cream would feel a little less…razorblade-y.”

“Okay,” Harper shrugged, picking up the Vaseline and unscrewing the lid.

“I want sombe ice creamb, too,” their daughter demanded. Maya eyed Eden expectantly, waiting. “Please,” she added.

“Okay, but it’s going to have to be the sugar-free sorbet. I won’t have you bouncing off the walls come bedtime.” She glanced over at the clock. “Which it is almost time for, by the way.” Eden let out a dramatic groan. “Gotta get a good night’s sleep if you’re going to hopefully be back at school tomorrow,” Maya reasoned.

Harper plucked a tissue from the box in front of her, turning away from the both of them to unload an unhealthy amount of mucus into it.

“Whoa,” Eden remarked, raising her eyebrows, her expression one of amazement tinged with disgust. “That was a lot of slugs, momby.”

“Tell mbe about idt...”

Moments later, Harper and Eden ate their sorbet as Maya did dishes and tidied up the kitchen and dining area. “Go on up and get ready for bed, munchkin. Mommy and I will be in to tuck you in soon,” she said as Eden finished her dessert.

Eden rubbed her eyes and yawned. “Fine, but I’m ndot tired though.” Maya and Harper exchanged amused grins as Eden plodded up the stairs.

“I think it’s about time you start getting ready for bed too, sweetheart.” Maya dried her hands on a kitchen towel before walking over to Harper and placing a hand on her back. “I know it’s still early, but you’re really sick. Some extra rest would do you a world of good.”

“Well as I recall frob yesterday, you cuddled our ‘really sick’ daughter in frondt of the TV until she fell asleep. Are you goig to dedy be that sabe treatbendt? Because that would be codsidered discrimbidatio—” She was cut off by a sudden deep hitching of her breath and jerked her head down to sneeze into her blanket. “Ugh,” she grumbled congestedly. “Adyway, what’b tryig to say is—cad you cuddle mbe too?” She wiped her nose, her expression uncharacteristically bashful. “That is—if you’re dot combpletely grossed out by…” she motioned to her face, “all this,” she finished, a soft cough escaping her.

Maya sat down and reached up to cup Harper’s cheek with her hand, gazing at her affectionately and chuckling at the tiny smudge of green goo peaking out from in between a Vaseline-coated pink-rimmed nostril. Maya plucked a tissue and began tenderly wiping away the mess under her nose, careful not to remove any of the ointment. “You could never be anything less than beautiful to me, even when you’re full of mucus. You know that, right?” She stated softly, bawling up the tissue and letting it fall from her hand. Harper ducked her head shyly, looking down at the crumbled tissue between them. Maya took Harper’s chin into her hand, guiding it gently back upward and kissing her lightly on her cold-ridden nose. “Prepare to be cuddled like you’ve never been cuddled before.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Thanks for reading! And yes, Maya inherited her role as a caretaker after years of taking care of Mattie. Harper secretly loves being doted on because she grew up being the center of attention as an only child, and regresses just a tiny bit when she's not feeling her best.


	6. Chapter 6

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Trigger disclaimer: this chapter contains a combat/war flashback and a panic episode
> 
> This chapter was not previously planned, and what was supposed to be maybe a few paragraphs became 4ish pages and it basically wrote itself. It is angsty and sad and I feel slightly evil for writing it, but I think the content adds a lot more depth to Harper and Maya's relationship because yes, while they love each other, no couple is perfect and life is hard. Also wanted to shed some light on the fact that war trauma is a very real, powerful and negatively impactful universal issue. While there is more information being discovered and better treatments being developed every day for trauma, it still remains a widely neglected and misunderstood issue, and there is currently no easy answer on how to help people heal from it. Even though I had some previous knowledge of flashbacks and panic episodes and did some research on them while writing this, it may not be perfectly accurate and apologize if misrepresented anything! 
> 
> Thanks for reading!

DAY 5

“Here To Stay”/“The Ocean”

Harper lay curled up under a quilt on the couch in the den in the dark, the flickering light of the muted TV screen dancing across her somber face, reflecting off her weary eyes as she stared back at it without registering what was on the screen, her mind thousands of miles away. About 4,850 and a quarter miles, to be exact.

Her eyes darted upward at the sound of footsteps emerging directly above her, knowing that these footsteps belonged to her wife. She had been expecting her. The footsteps continued, creaking down the stairs and temporarily silencing as they hit the carpeted landing. The silence continued until she heard the sound of the kitchen sink tap turning on for a few seconds before turning off again. The footsteps padded lightly down the wood-paneled floor of their hallway, growing louder until Maya’s dark figure appeared in the doorway, faintly illuminated by the TV, a glass of water in her hand.

“Hey,” she greeted casually, seemingly unsurprised to see her wife wide awake in the den just a little after 2am.

“Hey,” Harper echoed.

“Nightmares?”

“Yep. You?”

“Yep.”

Harper shifted under her quilt, sitting up a little as Maya made her way over to her, adjusting it and lifting up the end as her wife slid under and curled her legs beneath her. Harper spread the blanket over both of them—their routine.

The two sat in heavy silence for a minute or so, their legs touching, their breathing the only sound to be heard.

“I thought you said you didn’t like The Office,” Maya murmured, cutting into thick silence, a hint of a smile on her features. “You said it wasn’t funny…and that Michael is an asshole.”

Harper blinked, confused, before turning back to the TV. “Oh—” she blinked again. “I didn’t even ndotice, I’ve beend so zoned out…” She yawned. Maya leaned back into the couch, stretching her legs out from under her, shifting her body slightly to face Harper’s.

“That bad, huh?”

Harper stared at her. “You... _do_ kndow what day it is…right?”

Maya looked down, her shoulders slumping a bit. “Six months,” she answered quietly. “Down to the very hour.” She looked back up. “I wasn’t going to mention it if you weren’t.”

“The therapist said we needed to talk about these things.”

She felt Maya’s body stiffen slightly. “What therapist? You mean,” She gave an unamused chuckle, “that one we saw for a total of _two_ appointments?”

“Because you refused to go back,” Harper countered softly, her pulse quickening slightly. She coughed a few times, muffling them into the blanket as she eased herself to a sitting position.

Maya sighed, running a hand down Harper’s arm. “As I’ve told you before… You’re free to go back. Alone. I’m totally supportive of you doing that if that’s what you need.” She turned away. “But it’s just not for me…I have my own ways of dealing with these things.”

“Maya,” she exhaled. “This is ndot ‘dealing with these thigs’. We do this almost every ndight…the same thing over and over againd. It’s not getting ady easier. We experienced somethig truly horrifying. Together _._ And we ndeed to work through it _together._ ”

Maya slumped back against the couch, sighing. “Can we not talk about this right now? We’ve been over this before, and—”

“Ndo, let’s talk about it right now,” Harper cut her off, bristling, the words rushing out of her sharply. Maya fell silent, so Harper continued. “You kndow—” she broke off, inhaling, feeling her heart rate edging upward still. “You gave mbe advice once, years ago…right after thigs with Bard ended. You told mbe ndot to bury my pain…to let myself feel it id order to mbove through it and move on. To let mbyself grieve. I _never_ forgot that…know why? Because it was some damned good advice,” her lowered voice rose in pitch and volume a little, her tone sharpening as she emphasized those last three words. She paused, trying to steady her breathing and calm her anger. She watched Maya’s slumped form, her wife’s lovely side-profile appearing ghostly as the pale light from the TV flickered across her skin. “So, tell mbe, please,” she pleaded. “ _Why_ are you all of the suddend not following your ownd advice?”

Maya’s head lifted and she looked straight forward, before turning to face Harper, her blue eyes sad. “I don’t know…” She murmured.

“Enlighten mbe! Please.”

“I don’t know what you want me to say.”

Harper huffed angrily. “Why on Earth did you tell mbe those things if you don’t evend believe them yourself?” She pushed. “What—did you just randombly pick themb out from an advice columb and recite theb by membory to the people in your life whend they were hurting? Did you even mead them at all, or was it all for show—a convedient lie?” She blinked back the tears forming in her eyes. “Do you really believe those things are true now—or are you just goig to keep copping out, leaving mbe to fight this darkness alone?” Her voice cracked with emotion at that last question. Her throat started to throb, but she knew this sensation had nothing to do with her lingering cold. She panted, waiting for a response.

“No, I’m not.” Maya answered, her tone sad and broken, yet resolute. “I would _never_ lie to you. And I meant what I said. Every word.”

Suddenly, something bright and orange flashed in the corner of Harper’s eye and she jerked her head towards the flickering television. A short clip from an earlier news broadcast was playing on the screen. Flames licked the sides of a house. Smoke billowed. The roof caved in. Sparks exploded and a plume of smoke shot out from the destruction. She stopped breathing.

“ _Shit_ ,” she heard Maya hiss as she fumbled with the TV remote. “Look at me sweetheart, don’t look at the screen,” she ordered calmly. “ _Harper._ ” Her voice sounded distant. The burning house on the screen disappeared and the den suddenly plummeted into darkness. But it was too late. Her heart rate had already spiked and her veins flooded with adrenaline and sheer terror as that sickening sensation of her stomach dropping a thousand feet that she knew all too well pulled her under, and suddenly she was there again.

Smoke burning her eyes and nose. The roof caving in. Viselike grips on her arms and shoulders. The salty taste of sweat on her tongue. Bullets whizzing past her ear. The deafening sound of her own strangled cries filling her ears, her throat throbbing as they tore through her. The breaths from Maya’s shallow, desperate wheezing brushing against her collarbone. The click of a shotgun cocking inches from her face. The roof caving in. Cool hands on her face. A soothing voice. _Wait._ _Those last two things don’t belong_. A soothing voice called out to her. It was persistent. And familiar. She turned away from the roof caving in, following the voice. _Harper._ It said. _You’re having a flashback…breathe…listen to my voice…come back to me sweetheart…I’m right here beside you. You’re safe._ Safe? _Harper. Come back to me._

“Harper.” Maya’s cool hands cupped her face. The bookshelf on the wall behind her came into view. Light was flooding the previously pitch-dark room. She shifted her gaze from the wall to Maya’s face, her mouth still gaping in terror, her dark eyes overflowing with tears that began spilling onto her cheekbones. _There you are_. Hands still cupped her face, stroking and wiping away the tears that fell. _You’re safe now._ _Take a deep breath._ Harper tried but her chest was so tight. She smelled smoke. She started to panic. _Am I really here?_ She wondered. A hand stroked her back. _You’re safe, sweetheart. Look into my eyes. Stay with me, okay? Fight it_. She did what she was told, fixing a foggy gaze on deep blue eyes. _The ocean,_ she thought. She took a shallow, shaky inhale, her features relaxing. _That’s it. There you go…deep breaths. Good. Breathe in….breathe out._ It went on like that for a while. She wasn’t sure how long it took, as she stood on the sandy ocean shore. Eventually, the pounding of her heart downgraded to a drumming. The iron grip around her lungs began to loosen. She took a deep breath, eyes closing, and let it out slowly.

“There you go,” Maya soothed, her voice clearer now. Her hands were on Harper’s arms, smoothing up and down. “Now, I want you to open your eyes and look around the room,” she instructed. “And you’re going to tell me five things that you see. Okay? Five things,” she reiterated.

Harper sniffled as she slowly opened her eyes and glanced blearily around the room, swallowing the fear that welled up inside her. She’d done this many times with Maya, but her hands still shook. She took a deep breath as her wife took both her trembling hands.

“Family portrait,” she choked out, inhaling shakily. Her eyes and nose stopped burning. “Penny the Panda.” Her throat stopped throbbing. “’What to Expect Whend You’re Expecting’.” She felt Maya squeeze her hands encouragingly. Her heart rate slowed. “Phone charger.” The tightening in her stomach loosened as her gaze slowly drifted back to her wife’s eyes. She blinked. “The ocean,” she finished with a whisper. She then deflated like a balloon, exhaustion emanating from deep within her bones. A glass of water was pressed into her hands.

“Drink.”

She obeyed, gulping it greedily down her parched throat. She swallowed one last time and coughed, handing Maya the glass. She was looking down at her lap wearily when she felt Maya gently lift her chin, flashing her a brilliant smile once their eyes met, her face the epitome of pride. “You did it,” she whispered. Harper attempted to smile back, but felt her face start to crumble as she was swept away in a tidal wave of emotion. She buried her face in Maya’s shoulder as the tears began to fall. She felt Maya’s arms enfold her, one hand tenderly cradling the back of her head, lips brushing against her hair. She inhaled sharply right before silent racking sobs overtook her. Her muscles trembled as the adrenaline worked through her. “Good,” Maya whispered into her hair. “Let it out. I’ve got you.” Harper sobbed softly. Maya pressed a kiss to the top of her head and rocked her. “It’s going to be alright. I’ve got you. I’m not going anywhere. I’m here to stay.”

“Advice”

Thirty minutes later, the two women lay in bed with their arms around each other, Harper’s head tucked under Maya’s chin, both of them gazing up at the ceiling, tired but wired. The clock on the nightstand read 3am.

Maya combed a hand through Harper’s hair. “You getting tired yet?” She asked softly.

“Yeah, but I’bm not ready to go to sleep yet. I want to stay here with you,” Harper answered groggily, blinking heavily.

“Okay,” she yawned. “Then here we shall remain…at least until the Trazadone knocks us out cold.”

“Deal.” She coughed a few rattling coughs from behind closed lips, not eager to eject microscopic particles of virus-laden saliva onto her wife’s body.

“Feeling alright?” Maya yawned again.

“Yeah,” Harper murmured. “Still phlegmy, but feelig loads better, actually. Fever _fidally_ broke a few hours ago.”

“I’m so glad you’re feeling better.”

“Me too.”

The two of them fell back into comfortable silence for several moments. She felt Maya’s chest expand and contract under her head.

“Hey,” her wife murmured. “Before we pass out… I just wanted to apologize…for shutting down on you earlier, when you were just trying to start a dialogue about the therapy issue.”

“Mmm,” Harper hummed, raising her eyebrows and smiling softly. “ _Start a dialogue_ huh? Sounds like someone was actually paying attentiod during those appointmedts after all.”

She felt Maya smile into her hair. “Hey. I may not have enjoyed those appointments, but I listened, okay? We _did_ pay $300 dollars for those two sessions, so I wasn’t about to slack off.” She exhaled in slight irritation. “Why do people pay hundreds of dollars for sixty minutes of talking at someone who just nods and occasionally makes empathetic noises? If I wanted that, I could just go to a bar.”

Harper grinned. “Well, therapy’s a little more complex than that, but I get where you’re coming from.” She looked up at the ceiling in silence, her smile evaporating. “I’bm sorry too,” she continued a minute later, bringing the conversation back full circle. “I knew it was ad inappropriate time to push the issue, especially today. I let mby anger get the better of me.”

“I can understand your frustration…and I absolutely don’t want you to think that I’m abandoning you and making you go through all of this by yourself. I’m always here if you want to talk about what’s going on with you, and I know you would do the same for me. But…” Maya exhaled, “I’m just not ready to go there with you yet about my stuff…and I’m terrified of it triggering you.”

Harper considered this silently. “Well…there’s ndo rule stating that couples have to tell each other everythig,” she murmured. “I just want you to tell _someone._ I just want you to have some formb of support, you know?”

“Maybe I could give one of those support groups a try,” Maya offered with a sigh.

“And mbaybe I could go back to therapy. This is getting out of hand. I can’t evend watch the news anymore…”

“Let’s give those things a try, then,” Maya suggested. “If not for ourselves…then,” she paused, her next words seemingly getting caught in her chest, “for our little girl,” she choked out finally.

“Okay,” Harper whispered, tightening her arm over Maya’s abdomen.

Both of them fell silent as Maya’s words saturated the air around them.

“I still stand by what I said earlier.” 

“Stand by what?” Harper questioned.

“That I meant every word of that advice I gave you six years ago. Sometimes it’s just hard to follow your own advice…but that doesn’t make it any less genuine. I—” she paused, letting out a breath, “I said those things to you out of love. I loved you, even back then.” A beat passed. “I just didn’t know it yet.”

Harper tilted her face up, pressing a kiss to Maya’s jaw, prompting her wife to lift her head slightly and duck her chin, just as Harper tilted hers up again, their lips meeting softly in the middle. Harper cupped her cheek, folding her lips deeper into Maya’s, whose lips accepted this invitation gracefully. They pulled away slowly, their faces inches from each other. Harper reached up and traced the back of her finger down Maya’s jawline.

“I loved you too, my love,” she whispered, smiling delicately up at her. “But _I_ already knew it.”


	7. Chapter 7

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Thanks for reading!!

DAY 5

“Mental Health Day”

At this time on a typical weekday, Maya would have already been halfway through her morning commute to the law firm where she worked in downtown DC. Harper would have been upstairs in the home office grading papers or keeping herself busy with household upkeep and chores. But when the alarm blared from Harper’s phone at 6am that morning, the two women awoke and gazed at each other in sheer exhaustion, the intense events that had taken place a mere five hours earlier still fresh in their minds. They read each other’s faces and silently agreed on a conjoined mental health day.

Maya, Eden, and Harper piled into the car an hour later. On their way to dropping Eden off at school, Maya suddenly pulled their car into the parking lot of their favorite donut shop on a whim, to their five-year-old’s extreme delight. The three of them sat in the shop, savoring each bite of the sweet, doughy pastries and each other, paying no attention to the time. Eden was going to be very late for school, but life was too short to get caught up in these sorts of trivial matters.

Now, feeling uplifted by the spontaneous events of that morning, Maya and Harper sat side by side on stools at the kitchen island in comfortable silence, sipping coffee and scrolling through their tablets, relishing the quiet of a childless home (they loved their daughter dearly… _but still_ ). Harper was engrossed in a New York Times crossword puzzle on her tablet when the sound of coughing shook her out of her concentration. These coughs were not of the light, throat-clearing sort. These were heavy and throaty, not unlike Harper’s coughing when she was coming down sick just days earlier. She glanced up at her wife, quirking an eyebrow.

Maya was peering down at her tablet, chin in hand, seemingly unaware of the unhealthy sounds she had just produced.

“Well. _That_ sounded healthy,” Harper remarked.

“Hmm?” Maya looked up, distracted.

“Your coughing…?” she responded slowly, as if Maya had the intelligence of a two-year-old.

Maya shrugged. “So what?” She took a sip of her coffee. “I feel fine,” she reassured.

“You say that now…”

“Relax, Li. I haven’t had a cold in fifteen years. I am the picture of health.”

“Well…there _was_ that one time…” Harper countered, a smirk slowly forming on her lips. Maya furrowed her eyebrows in confusion, silently asking her to elaborate. “Afghanistan?” Harper prompted. “At Camp Habibi on that murder case in twenty-nineteen? You were a sniffling, sneezing mess. It was so gross,” she grimaced, “but you kept insisting that it was just allergies even though you were popping allergy pills like candy, to ndo effect whatsoever.”

“Oh—” Maya huffed, “—that?” She gaped at her wife.

“ _How_ do you even remember that?”

“I remember all of the cases that Abe and I lost, because I don’t take losing lightly,” she grumbled, “even though we made the right decision. And there is that one image of you sneezing contaminated droplets of snot all over that poor judge permanently burned into my retinas... _Ugh_ ,” she shivered. “I think that’s the first thing I’m gonna bring up to my therapist.”

Maya folded her arms over her chest. “Well—” she started, appearing to search her brain for a retort, before sighing in defeat.

“Perhaps I had just a tiny case of the sniffles, but I don’t think that counts as a cold.” She paused as her cheeks darkened slightly.

“God…that was so embarrassing. Not one of the finer moments of my Judge Advocate days. I’m honestly surprised Jette didn’t shoot me right then and there. Anyway, if you thought _that_ was gross…shoulda seen yourself the other day,” she teased.

Harper gave her a flippant eye-roll. “I dunno Dobbins… As far as embarrassing moments go? I think you’ve done far worse.”

Maya stared at her for a second, before grabbing a kitchen towel, balling it up and playfully throwing it at her. “Hey!” Maya exclaimed, “I thought we both agreed to shove the ‘horney-unicorn incident’ deep into the darkest corners of our minds and never speak of it again.”

Harper snorted when Maya’s expression became flustered at the memory and coughed a little into the back of her hand, before dissolving into laughter. “Sorry,” she giggled, “I couldn’t help it. The opportunity was right there and I had to take it.”

“I hate you so much right now,” Maya breathed, chuckling heartily and shaking her head. Her smile faded and she turned away to cough into her cupped hand, turning back to look at Harper with a sheepish expression.

Harper frowned and laid a hand on Maya’s arm. “Joking aside,” she began, her tone turning serious, “try to take it easy for the next few days, okay? For me? Just in case this is more than just a few random coughs?” She bit her lip. “Your lungs are still healing and Dr. Chakrabordy said you would be more prone to lower respiratory illnesses, remember? And that you’d have a harder time fighting them off, at least within the first year of healing.”

“I know,” Maya sighed, attempting a reassuring smile that didn’t quite reach her eyes. “And I will. Take it easy, that is. But I’m not getting sick,” she insisted.

Harper gave her a sad half-smile. “I hope you’re right about that.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Forgot to mention before that Harper is an adjunct law professor at George Washington Law School. Her passion for teaching makes up for the fact that she doesn't make much money doing it. After being invited to teach at SERE School (even though in my universe she doesn't carry out this plan), she realized she wanted to eventually break into the education field. Maya works full-time at a local law firm where she makes good money. She still keeps the possibility of running for office in the back of her mind, but wants to wait until Eden is older because of the time commitment. A few years ago they bought a house in Bethesda, MD. About six months ago they were both discharged from the Marines for different reasons which I'll get to in future chapter notes.  
> Also...I really like the idea that while Maya is typically calm, cool and collected, she tends to get very flustered when she makes a noticeable mistake or does something embarrassing. Harper is fully aware of this tendency and occasionally abuses this knowledge because she thinks it's adorable when Maya is flustered LOL.


	8. Chapter 8

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> We are nearing the end! This is the second to last chapter. I may post the last one tonight as well because it's basically done. Stay tuned for a breakdown of what the hell happened in Libya in a future chapter end note.

Day 7

“12 Dollars”

Maya lay sprawled across Harper’s lap on her back, massive pillows under her head and back, her upper body propped up slightly by the armrest of their couch, a blanket tucked around her. She snored softly. Harper messed around on her phone, periodically flexing her legs to avoid loss of circulation from the prolonged weight on them. Some old soap opera played on low volume on the TV. She checked the time again. Her phone read 3:45pm. She had fifteen more minutes. She returned to her social media pages and flipped through them distractedly, unable to allow herself to be fully immersed, since her ears were constantly tuned in to the sound of Maya’s breathing, listening for anything that might sound…scary. So far, she was breathing evenly, or rather— _wheezing_ evenly—but it could be much worse, she knew.

She was commenting on a friend’s Facebook status when Maya’s breathing started to fall out of its rhythm. Harper brought her phone down from her face just as her breathing started to become harsher, clueing Harper in to what was about to occur. Maya woke herself up coughing. Harper sat up straighter, her stomach clenching as she helped her wife turn to her side. Maya’s body slumped over, facing away from Harper as it convulsed with each cough. Harper stroked and patted her wife’s back, doing her best to swallow the tension that gripped her throat. Her lower airways were so wrecked that her coughing sounded unrecognizable to her ears, as if they belonged to a stranger, not to her Maya. It ended as abruptly as it had begun. Harper exhaled, brushing the hair that had fallen in front of Maya’s face behind her ear and putting a hand on her shoulder.

“Roll over, love,” Harper instructed, prompting her wife to roll over onto her back again. She helped Maya prop herself up on her pillows, carefully sliding out from under her so that she could sit at her side. She smoothed a hand over Maya’s cheek and stroked her cheekbone with her thumb as her wife caught her breath.

Maya’s eyes opened, meeting Harper’s and she offered her a small weak smile. “Well,” she began, something barely resembling a voice scraping through her vocal cords. “That oned was a doozy, wasnd’t idt? I think I saw by life flash before by eyes.”

Harper gave a small, nervous chuckle, followed by a roll of her eyes. “Always bringing the humor, even after coughing up a lung. You never cease to impress me, Dobbins.”

Maya grinned. “I dow. I eved imbpress byself.”

Harper ran a hand a through her wife’s hair. “How are you feeling? You seem a little better than you were this morning.” She laid a hand on Maya’s forehead. “And you’re no longer burning up.”

Maya yawned and rubbed her nose. “Feelig better… I thigk the drugs bust have kicked id.”

“Glad to hear that.” Harper smiled. “So…” she began quietly, her eyes darting away from her wife’s face. “Any guesses as to what you think this is?” Her dark eyes shifted back to lock on Maya’s.

Maya gave her a knowing look. “It’s dot pneubodnia, if thadt’s whad you’re askig.” Harper was silent, so she continued. “I’bm ndot drowdig id mby owd lung fluid. I feel awful, budt not like I’bm dying.”

“That’s a relief,” Harper responded, but her face was expressing anything but relief as she gazed at the soap opera on TV absentmindedly.

“Hey,” she heard her wife say and felt a hand on her cheek guiding her face back to meet Maya's. “Let’s wait udtil we have bore inforbationd before we expect the worse, okay? It’s probably just bronchitis or sombthig.”

Harper sighed and glanced at the time on her phone display. “Guess we’ll find out soon enough, either way.”

Maya rubbed her eyes. “Is it really four already? I feel like I odly slept for five bidutes.”

“Eight minutes to four. We need to leave by four-thirty if we want to be there by the check-in time.”

“It’s incredibly dice of Dr. Chakrabordy to squeeze be into her schedule today at the last bidute. Rebind be to write her a raving review on Yelp.”

“Well…she _is_ very aware of your chronic condition and the current situation, so I don’t think she had a choice either way.”

“Chrodic conditiod? Jesus Harper, you bake mbe soud like I have COPD or sobethig.” Her eyes scrunched up suddenly and she turned her head to the side, body lurching with a powerful sneeze that made Harper wince. She heaved out some coughs and opened her eyes. “Oh…” she uttered awkwardly as she made eye contact with the fabric on the couch, “…wrog side.” She sniffled unsuccessfully, her nose sounding like it was completely blocked.

Harper shrugged dismissively, grabbing a tissue off the coffee table. “It’s fine. You’re not the first to do that… Trust me.” Her eyes darted upward in thought and she frowned slightly. “Hmm…we really should get this poor thing deep-cleaned…and give whoever does it a generous tip.”

“I say we burd it.” Maya attempted to sniffle again as her eyes converged on the tissue that Harper was waving directly in front of her nose. “Oh, cobe od,” she whined, “I _hate_ blowig by ndose.”

Harper shook the tissue, prompting her to take it from her hand as she turned away, nauseated. “For the love of _Christ_ Maya-Jean, you’ve got a river of snot running down your face,” Harper shot back weakly, “and I’d rather not toss my cookies right now so would you _please_ be so kind?” She shook the tissue again.

Maya silently plucked it from her wife’s pinched fingers, muttering angrily under breath.

Harper checked her phone as Maya blew her nose. “We better start getting ready to go,” she announced.

Maya groaned. “Idod’twaddagetup,” she whined, causing Harper to giggle.

“Well, I know a way we can make this trip more exciting, _and_ it involves money.”

“Ooo. Do tell.”

“I bet you twelve dollars Dr. Chakrabordy will make an offhanded comment about our unconventional relationship within the first ten minutes of the appointment.”

“Wow, _twelve_ dollars? Sure you wadt to take such a high risk based od ad isolated incidend? I’d hate to see you lose so mbuch modey. Why such a radom number adyway?”

“It wasn’t an isolated incident and you know it. I’m feeling pretty confident that I could come out of this twelve dollars richer. And that will pay for exactly two venti soy triple-shot flat white mochas at my favorite spot on campus. I need at least two to get me through the day. _Duh_.”

Maya pretended to seriously consider this proposition. “Ad twelve dollars pays for two whole hours of publig parkig dowdtowd.” She shrugged. “Only a fool would pass up such ad opportudidity. Okay. Sure. You’re od.” She reached out her hand and they give each other a curt, businesslike handshake, staring at each other blankly for a few seconds before their shoulders started to shake with laughter.


	9. Chapter 9

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Last chapter!!

DAY 13

Epilogue

Maya shuffled groggily around the kitchen that Saturday morning, clad in a T-shirt and sweats, a small blanket draped loosely around her shoulders, periodically pausing to take bites of milk and Cheerios as she went about her business. She was dumping ground coffee into their coffee machine haphazardly when she heard a tiny sound behind her, prompting her to turn around, only to be met with an empty kitchen. She perked her ears up for a few seconds before shrugging to herself and turning back around. Humming absentmindedly, she filled the coffee pot with water, fidgeting a bit as she waited for the water line to hit the twelve-cup mark.

She lifted the full coffee pot out of the sink before placing it back down on the counter, blinking sleepily and yawning before reaching up to open the coffee maker lid, her thumb pressing against the underside of its raised edge. Her fingers rested on something wet and slimy. She jerked her hand back with a shriek, her blanket sliding off her shoulders as she jumped back and squeezed her eyes shut. She swallowed, inching her eyes open one at a time and peering at the tiny, glistening, green, oblong shape that lay on the counter next to the toaster, her breaths coming out in short bursts. She recoiled once she realized what it was. High-pitched belly laughter sounded behind her. She whirled around and her eyes narrowed at the sight before her. Eden was rolling around on the kitchen floor in a fit of giggles.

“ _Eden. Jean_.” She growled, gingerly picking up that— _thing—_ and hurling it in her daughter’s general direction. “That was _not_ funny,” she grumbled, her body wilting into the counter, a hand loosely on her chest as she caught her breath.

Her daughter’s laughter subsided and she sat up slowly, picking the squishy green object up off the floor and cradling it in her hand with a satisfied smirk. “ _Yeah it was,_ ” she squealed, another fit of giggles tumbling out of her.

Maya exhaled loudly, closing her eyes and dropping her head to her hand, pinching the bridge of her nose with her thumb and forefinger.

“Eden, you left your backpack in the…car… _oh_ ,” Harper suddenly rounded the corner, coming to a screeching halt as she took in the site before her—her wife, panting and glowering, and her daughter, shrieking with laughter from where she sat on the floor, her new toy in hand. She gave a nervous chuckle as she put her purse on the countertop, approaching her daughter.

“Eden, my sweet,” she said sheepishly through gritted teeth, flashing her wife a guilty sideways glance, “I _told_ you to wait a week before pranking your mother with that thing. She’s still recovering from bronchitis. The adrenaline isn’t good for her.”

“Wait—” Maya addressed her wife, “you _knew_ about this?”

“I’m sorry,” Eden giggled, “the water was running and she was busy and facing the other way and I just _had_ to do it!” She insisted in the same breath. “I even put water on it to make it more icky. You should’ve seen her face. It was the _funniest_ thing I’ve ever seen in my life!” She announced triumphantly.

“ _Un_ -believable...” Maya exhaled, shaking her head.

Harper bit her lip, giving Maya an apologetic look before reaching down to gently grab her daughter’s arms to help her up from the floor. “Come on E, get up,” she prompted, “go upstairs and play with your Dollhouse or something.”

Eden beamed. “That’s a great idea! I’m going to introduce my family to their new pet!” She skipped towards the stairs, stopping suddenly and turning around, looking at Maya with a grin tinged with the slightest bit of remorse. “Sorry mommy,” she muttered before vanishing up the stairs.

Harper made her way over to Maya and put her arms around her. “I am _so sorry_. I left her alone for one second…” She stooped to the floor and retrieved the blanket, wrapping it around her wife’s shoulders. “You okay?”

“What the hell was that thing anyway?”

Harper cast a downwards glance, embarrassed. “It’s called a _‘Sticky Slug’_. You know…’cause it’s a slug...and it sticks to things,” she finished clumsily, chewing the side of her lip and darting her eyes back up.

“Uh, would you mind just waiting here for a sec while I go print out some blank divorce papers?”

“I wasn’t the one who bought it for her. She convinced Bard to do it.”

“God, it’s no wonder you dumped his ass.”

Harper gave her a glare of warning. “ _Hey_. Be nice. He’s an amazing father who also happens to be a bit of a pushover. Anyway, apparently, Hunter brought his Sticky Slug collection to class…and well, one thing led to another…”

“ _Hunter_ …” She growled under her breath, her eyes narrowing. “I really hate that kid.”

Harper rolled her eyes. “Hey… _enough_ with the emotional displays. Quit stealing my thunder.”

“I’m suing the company that makes those— _abominations_ ,” Maya continued, ignoring Harper’s request.

“Well, good luck with that,” she chuckled humorlessly. “I’m sorry, again. I promise I’m going to give Eden a stern talking-to.”

Maya sighed. “I love the kid to death but…sometimes I just wanna—” She held up her hands and made a strangling motion, “—you know?”

Harper didn’t respond, prompting Maya to look over at her. Her wife was watching her, her head tilted slightly to the side, a small, fond smile on her lips. Maya felt her cheeks grow warm. “What?” she asked, flustered.

Harper’s smile widened and she bit her lip shyly. “Oh, nothing. I’m kinda in love you. That’s all.”

Maya’s heart fluttered. “I’m in love with you more,” she whispered, her eyes softening, a hint of a smile on her lips. A few more seconds passed before Harper took her hand and gave it a squeeze.

“I brought you something,” she grinned, letting go of her hand and walking away. “Hang on. I left it in the car.” She rounded the corner a minute later holding two venti-sized beverages. “I still remember your coffee order from back in the day, ‘member our old tradition?” She walked up to Maya and double-checked the order scrawled on the side before pressing a drink into her hand. “Order up. One venti double-shot americano with one and half packets of sugar and a splash of half-n-half.” She flashed her a dazzling smile, before taking a swig from her own cup. “Mmm,” she hummed with a frown as she swallowed. “Sorry, they’re a little lukewarm, but we could heat them up if you want.”

Maya’s eyes drifted from her wife to the coffee in her hand, suddenly overcome with emotion. “Oh…uh…that won’t be necessary,” she stammered. “Thank you.”

Harper gave her a knowing smile. “It only felt right to share my winnings, you know? And I know you’re not fond of that stuff,” she gestured to the bag of coffee on the counter behind where Maya stood. “So…whaddya say we indulge our caffeine addictions outside on the porch on this gorgeous day?”

Maya nodded, regaining her composure and returning Harper’s smile. “Yeah…let’s do it.”

Harper threaded her fingers through Maya’s, pulling her along in the direction of the front door and calling out to Eden that they would be in the front yard if she needed anything. Maya blinked back tears from her eyes.

FIN

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Thank you to all who have read this. I've taken such joy in writing it, even though I know not many have seen or will ever see it. It's inspired me to write more fiction with original characters. 
> 
> I'm putting the Libya backstory in the next chapter.
> 
> I have two Harper + Maya one-shots written. And another one-shot with a different pairing in the works, so stay tuned. 
> 
> <3


	10. Chapter 10

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This is the backstory about what happened in Libya and why Maya and Harper are no longer Judge Advocates.

Maya and Harper are overse as together on an investigation for a case . They are on the out skirts of Tripoli with a squad  of Marines when they hear gunshots and screams. A militia group is shooting at locals and burning buildings. The squad splits up and starts taking them out, on e by o ne. 

A hysterical woman comes up to them, screaming and crying. A squad member who knows a little Libyan Ara bic says that this woman’s  4-year-old daughter is trapped in a  burning apartment  building catty corner to where they are standing.  Maya starts to follow the woman but is ordered to stand down.  She counts five remaining militia members. She tells the higher-ranking Marine that  the rest of the  squad has got it covered and disappears into the burning building, ignoring the General as he continues to call out to her. 

Harper  tries to follow but is also ordered to stand down. She and the rest of the squad take out the rest of the group within seconds. Seconds later, Harper is inside the burning building, screaming for Maya. She is practically  carried out by two other Marines as she screams and cries for her wife. They hold on to her as she tries to break free  from them. The roof of the building caves in and Harper ’s stomach drops what seems like a thousand feet. She falls to her knees . She stops breathing. 

She hears commotion to her left and looks up to see Maya emerge from the side of the building with a  small girl in her arms. She stays upright just long enough for the child’s mother to take her daughter from Maya’s arms, before she collapses, coughing and wheezing.  She has burns on her right arm and back. Her face is covered in soot.  Harper runs over to Maya, sobbing, and cradles her in her arms as her wife tries to breathe. 

They hear more gunshots. The other Marine s start shooting. Maya looks up at Harper and orders her to help them. Harper complies, taking what she thought was one last look at her wife before joining the fight.  This time, there are too many of them. Harper  is shot twice, once in her left arm, once on the lower part of her bullet proof vest . She is on the ground,  in  excruciating pain, unable to move, when a man stands over her and aims a gun at her head. She spits on his shoes. He smiles and cocks the gun. Harper  closes her eyes. She apologizes to Eden. 

She hears a gunshot and opens her eyes. The man is dead. Maya is  standing a few feet away , holding a gun. She collapses again. Harper drags herself over to her,  breathing harshly and  whimpering from the pain as she does. She lays down next to Maya.  She hears more gunshots and sees the faces of other members of the squadron peering at her right before everything turns to black.

Harper wakes up in a hospital in the city. Abe , her best friend, is at her bedside holding her hand . He got the first hop there as soon as he heard he news . Maya is down the hall being treated for severe smoke inhalation and 3 rd degree burns , but she’s going to be okay. Harper shakes with  silent wracking  sobs. A few days later, Maya contracts bac terial pneumonia from complications  from the lung dama ge .  A week later, she is dying.  Matty is with her. Harper can’t bear to watch her die. She tells  a comatose  Maya that she’s sorry. Several hours later, Abe answers Harper’s phone. They are in a motel a block from the hospital. Maya was starting to show signs o f improvement. Abe catches her as she faints to the floor .  It takes a while, but Maya recovers. She is told that her lungs will never be the same. 

Abe tracks down the mother and the child that  Maya save d . Maya meets them back at the base, before she is due to fly home. The little girl’s name is Rabitah.  Maya cries for the first time in years as she holds Rabitah in her arms and they embrace.  She reminds her  so much of her own daughter . She and Rabitah’s mother silently embrace for what seems like centuries. Maya silently shows the mother a picture of her daughter.  They don’t need to speak the same language to  have an understanding of the love they have for their daughters. The father stands at a distance. He nods to Maya as they leave . Harper is already back at home, so she is not there to witness this.

Back in the US,  Maya is court-martialed for disobey ing direct orders. When asked why she ran into the building,  she says  she would not a llow yet another mother to experience the pain of losing a child as a result of war . She had already seen it happen too many times. She would’ve done the same thing for her own daughter.  She has no regrets. Abe and Trey fight as hard as they can on her behalf.  They provide solid evidence that  Maya ran into the burning building after she saw the other  Marines taking out the rest of the militia members , so she did not endanger the rest of the squad. They manage to make a deal with  prosecution . Either Maya spends six months in the brig, or she is  stripped of her medals and rank, and dishonorably discharged from the Marines. Maya choses  the latter. Harper is furious on Maya’s behalf. Maya is simply happy to be alive. She tells Harper that the  none of it matters. The only thing that matters now is that she  can hug daugh ter  every day . 

Maya takes a month off from working . She spends  as much time with Eden as she can . Because of  the  reputable nature of her last job ,  raving recommendations from references and the fact that not too many lawyers are experts in military law like she is , she  is able to find a job relatively easily at a local law firm that compensates well. 

Harper resumes her work as a JA, but struggles with flashbacks, panic attacks and starts lashing out at c olleagues . She insists that she’s fine. Abe , Trey, and Turnbull stage an intervention and Harper agrees to get a psychiatric evaluation  from a military  psychiatrist on base .  She is diagnosed with PTSD, and due to the nature of her symptoms, the psychiatrist recommends her for  temporary  disability  discharge (of up to a year).  Maya talks Harper into applying for discharge and Turnbull promises her that she will make sure her dis charge status is honorable. Many testify on Harper’s behalf at her medical review board  hearing and she is granted honorable discharge. Within a few weeks of applying, she leaves the  base’s legal offices one last time. 

Harper doesn’t wait too long before she starts applying for  jobs and refuses to apply for temporary disability benefits (because this is  _ Harper _ we’re talking about) . In early Summer, Harper starts applying for adjunct law pr ofessor  positions and is hired to teach two courses in military law at George Washington Law School for the Fall semester .  Her love for teaching helps her manage for mental health issues, but she still struggles with it daily. 


End file.
